


my heart that you helped to build

by oh_la_fraise



Category: Shadowhunter Chronicles - All Media Types, Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare, Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Fluff, M/M, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-23
Updated: 2016-10-23
Packaged: 2018-08-24 04:54:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,505
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8358136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oh_la_fraise/pseuds/oh_la_fraise
Summary: Magnus isn’t what he expected.  Alec had thought his soulmate would be serious, tame, and, well, female.Okay, maybe he was lying about that last one.





	

**Author's Note:**

> The next chapter of Casino Game is spinning its wheels in the mud, so have a brief fluffy soulmate piece. Title is from In Your Arms by Chef'Special.

The party is loud and bright and pulsing—Alec wants nothing more than to leave.But his boss, a big shot at the UN, wants to mingle before giving his keynote address, so as his chief of staff Alec has to trail behind him like a duckling with a Masters in International Affairs from Harvard.Alec is dutifully introduced to several important people whose names he mentally files away for later, but when his very married to his soulmate boss starts making eyes at a model in the corner, Alec excuses himself to get a drink. 

Alec knows that finding your soulmate doesn’t mean that they’ll be kind or faithful to you.He doesn’t quite see the point: why have a biological instinct to be intrinsically bound to someone if they’re going to turn out to be a dick?Soulmate divorces are rare, but that doesn’t mean you can be unhappy with your soulmate regardless; his parents are living proof of that.Alec, who is the last of his siblings except Max to find his, just hopes he finds someone who makes him happy, like Izzy and Lydia or Jace and Clary.

There’s an attractive man flirting with the bartender as Alec approaches.She deftly slides over his drink and walks away, and the man shrugs, unbothered.With an ass like that, Alec supposes, he probably isn’t desperate for attention.

He smiles at Alec as Alec settles into the seat next to him.His eyes are rimmed with dark eyeshadow, and he’s wearing a very red and very shiny suit.Alec feels a little embarrassed about how attracted he is to this total stranger.

The man grins at Alec.“You look like you’re not having a very fun night, darling.”

Alec smiles back, suddenly emboldened.“It just got better, I think,” he says.Izzy would be proud of him.  
  
The man smiles for real this time, and Alec’s heart beats double time.“I can’t argue with that.Magnus Bane, fashion writer, Vogue.”

“Alec Lightwood, chief of staff for the UN’s director of Population Division.”

Their hands touch, and electricity races up Alec’s arm.

~

Magnus isn’t what he expected.Alec had thought his soulmate would be serious, tame, and, well, female (Okay, maybe he was lying about that last one.).For a while in grad school, he’d kept touching Lydia’s arm, hoping to feel a spark—he wasn’t attracted to her, but she was one of his best friends, and they were basically the same person, so he thought it’d be as good a match as any.That thought quickly died when she and Izzy shook hands and couldn’t stop staring moonily at each other.

Instead, Magnus laughs constantly.He teases Alec, and forces him out of his comfort zone.But he also helps Alec learn Indonesian and buys him little gifts just because they reminded Magnus of Alec.He wears reading glasses, pouring over the latest fashion magazines.Once he goes off on a tirade about fashion as self expression and liberation, and trails off in the middle sheepishly.“Sorry,” he says to Alec, “I know this is probably boring to you.”

Alec has never been more interested in anything in his life.“Please, continue,” he says.

~

Introducing Magnus to his parents goes about as well as expected, which is to say it goes completely terribly.His parents don’t approve of same sex relationships, even though it’s literally in Alec’s DNA to feel that way.They tolerate Lydia because Lydia is great, and they’d long since given up on trying to control Izzy anyway.But Alec.Alec is the golden child, the successful one, the heir to the Lightwood’s reputation, and being soul bonded to a glittering fashionista was not part of that plan. 

Magnus holds him that night, and Alec, to his utter embarrassment, ends up crying into Magnus’s far too expensive jacket.Magnus just rubs his back and hums.Alec does feel better afterwards, and his mood lifts even more when Izzy and Lydia arrive with a big bottle of wine, and Clary and Jace not long after with some really strong weed Clary got off her sketchy art friends.His siblings and their soulmates love Magnus, and they’re the only people whose opinion Alec truly cares about. 

~

They buy an apartment together.It’s a piece of shit and still more than either of them can afford, and everyone is telling them it’s way too soon.Magnus names it Jakarta de México, because he watches too much New Girl.They paint the walls a rich blue, and fill it up with ridiculous pillows and pictures and too many coffee mugs.That night, wrapped in Magnus’s arms in the bed they’d found at a flea market, Alec feels truly at home for the first time in his life.

Magnus starts hinting that he wants a cat two weeks after they move—Magnus thinks he’s being subtle even though he’s completely obvious.Alec buys him a little grey ball of fluff for his birthday—Magnus coos at him and names him Church, of all things.The kitten takes to Magnus immediately.Alec frequently wakes up with hairballs on his, and only his, pillow.

It’s the happiest Alec has ever been. 

~

Magnus gets a stomach bug.He grumbles about Alec’s cooking, even though Alec feels fine, and crawls into bed early, clearly miserable.When Alec joins him a little later, he’s tossing and turning, face shining with sweat.Alec goes to sleep clutching his hand.

In the middle of the night, Alec feels something shake him awake.“Alec,” Magnus says.He only says Alec instead of Alexander when he’s emotional about something.“Something’s wrong.”

They race to the hospital.When Magnus says his stomach is hurting, right side only, the intake nurse’s eyes widen, and he ushers them to the ER through the packed waiting room.Alec holds his hand the entire time as Magnus shakes in the bed, and strokes his hair when he vomits.When the nurse asks Magnus if he wants Alec to stay, Alec snaps “ _we’re soulmates._ ” He doesn’t ask again.

Eventually, the doctor comes.She pushes on Magnus’s stomach; Magnus screams, and Alec whitens.He could go the rest of his life without hearing that noise again. 

After that, things move quickly. _Appendicitis; he’ll be fine if we hurry_ the doctor explains as they wheel Magnus away from Alec.A nurse sends him to the OR waiting room, and Alec, still in his pajamas, clutches his cell phone, hovering over Izzy’s and Jace’s names.He finally sends them a text, and they both wordlessly show up and settle on either side of him.

When they finally let him see Magnus after surgery, his soulmate is high as a kite on morphine.“I love you so much, Church,” he tells Alec.Alec will take it. 

~

Alec buys a ring, and puts it in his pocket.He holds onto it for awhile, not because he’s unsure—he’s never been more sure of anything in his life—but because he wants the moment to be grand and romantic, like Magnus wants and deserves.

Instead, as they’re laying intertwined on the couch one day, Magnus cuts off Dance Moms and slides to the floor in front of Alec.He goes through a grand speech about how wonderful Alec is and how undeserving Magnus feels, and part of Alec is crying, but the rest of him is panicking because Magnus’s ring is laying unseen in Alec’s sock drawer.

Magnus looks up at him, brown eyes shining, and says “Will you marry me?”

Alec says no.

Magnus’s face falls, and Alec thinks _oh my god, Alec, you idiot.“_ No, of course I’ll marry you—I just—just wait,” he begs Magnus, and catapults off the couch and into their bedroom. He throws his socks all over the room until he spots the turquoise box nestled within.He runs back into the living room, where Magnus is still looking confused and upset.Alec slides to his knees in front of Magnus and pulls out the box.

Magnus’s breath hitches.

“You always beat me to the punch, and while that’s infuriating sometimes, it’s one of the many things I love about you.Magnus Bane, will you marry me?”

Magnus raises an eyebrow.“Did you just try to out-propose me?”

“I was waiting because I had a big grand gesture planned.I ordered _doves,_ Magnus.”

Magnus reaches out and closes the ring box gently.“So ask me that way, then.No, Alexander Lightwood, I won’t marry you, but feel free to accept my proposal, which I did on the couch because I knew that’s how _you’d_ want to be proposed to.And then you can have your big moment that you’ve worked so hard on for me.”

Alec grins.“I love you.”

“So that’s a yes?” Magnus teases.He’s already sliding the ring onto Alec’s finger.It fits perfectly. 

Later, in Central Park, surrounded by their friends and tons of glitter and a fucking marching band, Magnus tells Alec yes. 

**Author's Note:**

> [Join me on Tumblr! ](http://ohlafraise.tumblr.com/)


End file.
